S_A_Akinola_8608

In the heartbeat of Lagos, where hustle meets heartache, When Love Bleeds tells the raw, unfiltered story of Mike a broke but brilliant developer with big dreams and Danika, a resilient hairstylist caught between love, obligation, and spiritual warning.

When a chance meeting by a pool sparks an unexpected connection, the two begin building a fragile romance, pieced together by shared ambition, late-night talks, and small acts of sacrifice. But love in a city like Lagos costs more than words. As financial pressures rise and Danika’s family moves in, Mike finds himself torn between being her hero and losing himself.

Then come the signs. An oracle’s cryptic warnings. Nightmares Danika can’t shake. A pregnancy filled with complications. And a loss that breaks them both. As Danika drifts into silence, Mike spirals battling depression, betrayal, and the ghosts of a love he can’t let go.

Years pass. Cities change. But some wounds don't heal with distance. When fate brings Mike back to Danika’s hospital bedside, with a child that may not be his but a love that never truly left the two must confront everything they buried. The pain. The sacrifice. The bleeding heart that still beats for each other.

Will they choose healing over escape? Redemption over regret? Or has too much already been lost?

When Love Bleeds is an emotionally rich, spiritually charged urban love story that explores the quiet heroism of staying, the weight of cultural expectations, and what it truly costs to build a future together when the world and even the spirits seem against you.

When Love Bleed

The next morning arrived wrapped in haze. A humid mist hovered over Lagos as Danika walked to her shop, head low beneath her scarf. The city was already alive — shouting bus conductors, breakfast vendors pushing carts, school children tugging at their mother's hands.

But her heart was still somewhere else.

She unlocked the metal shutter, propped the door open, and began sweeping. The routine was comfort. Familiar. Repetitive. Predictable. Everything her relationship with Mike hadn't been lately.

As she dusted off a display shelf, her phone buzzed.

Mike: Are you free to talk tonight? Please.

She stared at the message. For seconds. Then minutes. Her heart didn't know whether to leap or collapse.

She didn't know what she wanted to say yet.

In Abuja, Mike had barely slept the night before. His roommates were gone, off chasing their own futures, while he sat with a phone in one hand and a prayer in the other.

He'd rewritten that message a dozen times before finally settling on something simple.

He paced. Sat. Stood. Paced again. He looked at the tiny woven bracelet Danika had once made for him. The colors had faded, the threads a little frayed, but he still wore it.

She hadn't blocked him. That was hope, right?

That evening, just as the city was sliding into twilight, Danika closed her shop early. She sat in her bedroom, legs curled beneath her, staring at the wall.

Mike: I'm here whenever you're ready. Even if you're not. I just want to hear your voice.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She picked up the phone and called.

She didn't speak immediately. Just listened to the sound of him breathing on the other end.

Finally, she whispered, "If you still love me, say it now."

Her tears spilled freely. "I didn't stop either… but I started doubting if it mattered."

"It does," Mike said. "It matters more than anything."

Silence settled again, but this time it was different. This silence was soft. Honest. Healing.

They didn't fix everything that night.

But they spoke. Really spoke. For hours.

About love. About fear. About distance. About dreams.

About how they both broke something by saying nothing.

And how maybe just maybe they still had time to rebuild it.

If You Still Love Me